2021 Charles Moskos Prize Winner Announced
We are happy to announce Dr. Demet Yalcin Mousseau as the inaugural winner of the Charles Moskos Prize for her article "Does Foreign Development Aid Trigger Ethnic War in Developing States?". The selection committee, composed of Professor Damon Coletta (United States Air Force Academy), Professor Yagil Levy (The Open University of Israel), and Professor Pascal Vennesson (S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University Singapore) (Chair), were unanimous in their decision.
This innovative article addresses a significant and enduring issue: in a post-pandemic world, neither foreign development aid, nor ethnic conflict are going away. The paper creatively addresses a scholarly gap: the impact of developmental aid on ethnic war, not merely on civil wars in general and other manifestations of state instability previously covered by the literature.
Dr. Mousseau combines several methods in a sophisticated way. She conducted a case study to comprehend to what extent and how foreign aid reshapes domestic politics in developing states, and conducted a large quantitative study as well. The piece features a creative and rigorous treatment of existing data to parse previous murky results on civil war and clarify the relationship between development aid and ethnic violence
Moreover, the author bravely challenges the conventional wisdom. Foreign aid is, and should be, inherently designed to improve domestic stability and, ultimately, favor development. However, it may have the unintended consequence of destabilizing inter-ethnic relations in some countries and thus may become a dangerous cause of war. This insightful, counterintuitive conclusion has immediate policy implications and should help design better foreign development aid.
Dr. Demet Mousseau is an Assistant Professor at University of Central Florida, School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs.
Click here for more information on the Charles Moskos Prize.
Save the Date for The 2021 Biennial International Conference of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society
The Biennial International Conference of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society will be held October 15-17, 2021, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 1800 Presidents Street, Reston, Virginia 20190.
2021 Conference panels will begin Friday morning, October 15, with panels both morning and afternoon and the IUS Welcome Reception and Dinner that evening. The Conference concludes Sunday, October 17, at noon. Please plan to arrive on Thursday, October 14.
Hotel and registration information will be available in June 2021.
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